Dorota Kędzierzawska is capable of telling ordinary stories in an extraordinary and poetic manner, showing reality seen through the eyes of a child – the little protagonists in her films. This is exactly what happens in Jestem/I Am.
The film tells the story of a boy, 11, who is left alone, after an unplanned escape from a children’s home. There is nobody looking for him and his mother does not expect him to come home, although the boy wanted to live with her. Kundel (Polish for “mongrel”, a pseudonym for the boy) does not complain about his situation, instead trying to face life on his own terms, because he believes there is a different, better world, regardless.
He finds his “home” on an old, big, abandoned barge. The boy befriends a girl, who lives nearby, in a real, wealthy home. This encounter soon turns into the boy’s first infatuation.
The Beauty of Chełmno
Dorota Kędzierzawska once again chose Chełmno to be the film setting, and in particular its streets. Among others, we can see the following streets in the film Dominikańska, Rynkowa, Styczniowa, Świętego Ducha, and Toruńska, as well as gates and private tenement houses. Some of the shoots were also done by the Starogardzkie Lake, near the railway station, and in the Saints Peter and Paul Church.
Trivia
- The young residents of Chełmno who appeared in “Jestem/I Am” were later invited by the film director to see the film première, during the Gdynia Film Festival.
- The film was shot not only in Chełmno, but also in Toruń and Kozielec, in the latter of which the film was shot inside the red-brick house of Mr and Mrs Kampińscy, situated by the Vistula River.
- Dorota Kędzierzawska came back to the Province of Kujawsko-Pomorskie on a number of occasions to shoot her films. One of them was “Wrony/Crows”, in which we can see the streets in the Old Town and the villa at ul. Mickiewicza 12. The other film was “Jutro będzie lepiej/Tomorrow Will Be Better”, in which we can see shot taken in the historic rooms of the railway station in Aleksandrów Kujawski, for example the former inspection room, the Tsar’s rooms, the former restaurant, and the main lounge area.
- Chełmno is featured not only in the films made by Dorota Kędzierzawska, but also in the TV series Belfer (the cemetery in Chełmno), in Ziarno prady/A Grain of Truth by Borys Lankosz (particularly in the scenes with Robert Więckiewicz), in the Japanese film Persona non grata, and in a number of scenes in the cult TV series Czterej pancerni i pies/Four tank-men and a dog.
Information on the film
Jestem / I Am
Poland 2005, 93′
Directed by: Dorota Kędzierzawska
Screenplay: Dorota Kędzierzawska
Cinematography: Artur Reinhart
Music: Michael Nyman
Producer: Artur Reinhart
Produced by: Telewizja Polska – Agencja Filmowa, Kid Film, Studio Produkcyjne Orka, Panavision Polska
Cast: Agnieszka Nagorzycka, Piotr Jagielski, Edyta Jungowska, Barbara Szkałuba, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Janusz Chabior, Przemysław Bluszcz, and others.
Selected Awards
The Gdynia Film Festival awards for cinematography, music, and sound; The Silver Screen Audience Award, the Award of the President of TVP Polish Television for Dorota Kędzierzawska; The Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Łódź – Grand Prix in the Polish Film Review section for Artur Reinhart; the SDP Film Critics Club – Warsaw Mermaid Award in the Polish Feature Film category; the Polish Film Awards Eagles for the Best Cinematography; Berlinale – Special Award of the Kinderfilmfest Jury; and others.
